Warm air heater



July 14, 1942. J. R. DENlsE y 2,289,759

WARM AIR HEATER Filed Oct. 22, 1940 Z'Sheets-Sheet l Snventor (IttornegJuly 14, 1942. J. R. DENlsE v 2,289,759

WARM AIR HEATER Filed Oct. 22, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 39 Fligg; 4, 31g fj t :V A0, s

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Y F .5. vnz, 'I :2-9- rg Fg. r 4/ JU/m E. Den/15e Patented July 14, 1942WARM AIR HEATER John 'Il'. Denise, Columbus, Ollio,l assignor to GeneralProperties Company, Inc., a corpora.-

tion ot Delaware Application October 22, 1940, Serial No. 362,218

o `2 claims. (c1. 12e-11o) This invention relates to improvements ingasred warm-air 'heaters embodying within a single housing or cabinet aradiator for heating the air, burner means for heating ythe radiator, ablower for forcing the air to be heated over the radiator, and means forfiltering the air before it reaches the blower intake.

The object of the invention is to arrange the parts within the housingin such a way as to provide a relatively compact heater unit; to providean arrangement which will permit the blower to be readily installed inthe housing; to provide an `improved burner Aarrangement for heating theradiator, and to provide other improvements hereinafter more fullyappearing.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification- Fig. 1shows the interior arrangement of parts within the heater housing, someof the parts being in elevation and others irl-.vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a somewhat enlarged fragmentary view taken on line 2--2 ofFig. l.

Fig. 3 is .a fragmentaryv'vertical section on a somewhat enlarged scaleof parts shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section on lino t-il f Fig. 1. E

Fig. 5 ls a vertical section online 6 5 of Fig. t.

Fig. 6 isa fragmentary section on line t-t of Fig. 1. j

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section on line i-l oi Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary top plan view of one of the burner heads.

Fig. 9 is` a perspective plan view showing how certain of the burnerheads are interconnected.-

The heater housing is rectangular in plan andl comprises a pair ofupright laterally-spaced side walls I0 and upright connecting walls liand i2. For descriptive purposes, the wall' il will sometimes bereferred to as the front wall of the housing, and the wall l2 as thebaci; wall thereof. The bottom wall-of the housing is indicated at itand the top wall at it. In the back wall at the lower end thereof is anopening it constituting an air inlet to the housing, and in the top wallis an opening it constituting the air outlet from the same.

i t indicates a blower, 20 a driving motor there- 'ior, 20' the drivebelt, and ti a structural steel frame on which both the blower and motorare mounted, the frame being slidably supported on a trackway comprisingrails 22 secured to the opposite side walls it, the rails being shown aschannel irons whereby to provide below said frame a'guideway 23 for anupper tray-type air lter Il, it being noted that the filter is normallydisposed with its front end I8' a substantial distance inwardly of theplane of the front wall il.

Below the guideway 23 is another similar guideway 23' for a lowertray-type air filter Il, it being noted thatthe rear end Il' of thefilter terminates a substantial distance inwardly of the plane of theback wall i2. An upwardly inclined wall 2l between the filter guideways23 and 23 .insures that air entering the inlet i 5 shall ilow in partthrough the upper and in part through the lower filter, it beingunderstood that the wall 24 extends all the way across the housingbetween the sidewalls it thereof. The front wall il comprises panels ilaand lib. By removing the panel lia both filters may be with- 4drawn fromthe heater-.housing as will now be readily understood. By removing bothof the panels lia and I Ib and an inclined wall indicated at 26, theframe 2| with the blower and motor thereon may also be withdrawn fromsaid housing. As shown in Fig. 7, the wall 25 is slidably connected tothe side walls i0 of the heater housing, thus permitting ready removalof the wall 2li by a downward pull.`

Above the blower i9 is a horizontally disposed wall 2B which extendsbetween the side wallsi0 of the heater housing and from the back wall i2thereof forwardly to the upper end of the inclined wall 2t, the walls 25and 2li therefore serving` to divide the housing into main upperandlower compartments. The wall it adjacent the back wall i2 of theenclosure is provided with a rectangular opening 29 shown as surroundedby anvupstanding collar it, the blower i@ having a top outlet 3l adaptedto underlie the said opening when the blower is in its normal positionin the enclosure, the outlet of the` blower being shown as comprising anupstanding collar Et, it being noted that the top of the collar is belowthe level of the underside of the wall @il as clearly shown in Figs. 4and 5. v

Secured to and depending from the under side of the wall 28 are twoparallel laterally-spaced guide strips 33 which extend from the baci:wall l2 of the enclosure to a point short of the upper end of theinclined wall 2t, the collar @t of the blower outlet being conhnedbetween these strips, there being interposed between the strips and theadjacent sides oi the collar a strip of packing material tt 'which ispreferably secured to and carried bythe walls of the collar t2.Interposed between the back wall l2 oi the enclosure and the adjacentwall oi the collar it is another packing strip 34', preferably carriedby the collar wall and adapted to engage the back wall itself or aparallelly extending abutment secured to the wall i2. Secured to thefront wall 32 of the blower outlet is an upright flexible packing strip36 in frictional engagement with the underside of the Wall 28. .It willnow be readily appreciated that the two packing strips 34, the packingstrip 34 and the packing strip 36 serve to prevent objectionable leakageof forced air from the blower at the joint between the top of the bloweroutlet collar 32 and the'wall about the opening 29. It will now also beunderstood that there is a severable connection between the bloweroutlet and the flow passage 29 in the wall 28 and that the blower unitas a whole may be readily inserted into and withdrawn from the enclosureafter the inclined wall 25 and the front panels Ila and Hb have beenremoved. Removal of the wall 25 is accomplished by rst removing the saidpanels ila and lib.

38 indicates a. radiator comprising a plurality of upright tubularelements 39 which are relatively long and narrow in cross-section, theelements being secured at their lower end to a horizontally disposedlplate or wall 40 having openings with which the lower ends of thetubular elements are in register, it being understood that the openingshave the same shape in plan as the bottom openings of the tubularelements. The tubular elements are arranged in laterally spaced relationwith theirbroad sides facing each other to provide air flow passagestherebetween, the broad sides of said elements being preferably providedwith a series of verticaliyspaced horizontally-disposed heat radiatingfins 4I. provided on the interior walls of the tubular elements, as willbe readily understood. 'I'he upper ends of the tubular elements areconnected to a horizontally disposed wall 42 which constitutes thebottom of a waste gas manifold 43 shown as provided with a top outlet 44which extends through the top wail I4 of the heater housing.

Between the walls 29 and 40 are two side walls 35 and an end wall 31whereby to form a compartment wherein burner heads 46 are located. Awall 41 extending downwardly at an angie from the front wall Il of theenclosure to the adjacent end of the wall 49 separates the burnercompartment from the radiator compartment, it being understood that thewall 41 extends all the way across between the side walls I of theenclosure. The top wall I4 and the upright walls lll, Il and I2 of theradiator compartment are shown as double for heat insulating purposes.

Each radiator element 39 'is individually internally heated by flamesfrom a burner head 46 therebelow, the burner head having a flat topwhich is multi-apertured throughout its length to provide a.substantially continuous flame from one end of the burner head to theother and crosswise of the burner head, it being understood that theflame in plan is long and narrow, the same as the lower end of thetubular element. As shown inFig. 8, the apertures in the burner head arepreferably formed by a piurality of paralleliy extending corrugatedstrips 48 separated by spacer strips 49'. Burners of this type arecommonly known as "ribbon burners.

Inasmuch as the burner heads," are positioned one directly, below eachtubular element 39, the'iiame from each burner head passes directlyupwardly into the tubular element. The

Heat absorbing fins not shown may also be .compartment wherein theburner heads are located therefore remains relatively cool. It will beunderstood that secondary air is required to complete the combustion oithe fuel issuing from the individual burner heads. The inlet forsecondary air is indicated at 52 between the two inclined plates 25 and47. In order that the secondary air may flow into the lower end of thetubular elements 39 with minimum turbulence, a downwardly and outwardlyflaring mouth 53 is provided at the lower end of each said tubularelement. 'I'his mouth will of course be of substantially the same-shapein plan as thel lower end of the radiator element and is preferablyformed by securing to the under side of the plate 40 between adjacentradiator elements an elongated body 5t whose longitudinally extendingsides -curve downwardly toward each other, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.Screws 55 passed through the body 59 and through the plate 49 and intothe bottom flanges of the tubular elements serve to Icla'm'p'the plate40 between the said flanges and the said body 55.

Secured to the upright wall 31 which forms the back end of the burnercompartment is a bracket 56 having a horizontal row of holes forreceiving .pins 51 extending from the adjacent end of each burner head,whereby to support the burner heads in proper position in the burnercompartment. Means including a horizontally extending gas-supplymanifold 58 and mixing tubes 59 for the burners serve to hold the otherend of the -burner heads in proper position.

A single mixing tube 59 preferably supplies a .pair of adjacent burnerheads, and such burner Y heads are cross connected by a flamepropagating portion 60, as clearly shown in Fig. 9, with the result thatas soon as the combustible mixture issuing from one burner head has beenignited, the adjacent burner head will also be ignited by propagation ofthe flame along the .portion 60. A -pilot for igniting the burners isindicated at 6I. Referring to Fig. 2, it will be noted that there arethree pairs of burner heads and therefore three mixing tubes 59. Inorder that the burner heads of the pair most remote from the pilot maybe ignited, there is provided between adjacent heads of adjacent pairs aflame propagating portion 62 similar to the portion 60 previouslydescribed. The portions 60 and 62 are integral with the burner heads andare hollow, whereby gas flows into the same from the adjacent burnerheads. The gas discharge slot in said portions 60 and 62 may be formedby a single corrugated strip similar to the strip 48 shown in Fig. 8. Itwill be understood that -by removing the front panel Hb of the frontwall I I, access may :be readily had to the burner compartment.

The forced air from the blower I9 on entering the radiator compartmentis deflected toward the radiator by a .plurality of defiector elementsB5, 66 and 61. From what has been said, it will be understood that theair flows between the radiator panels for heating and then flows out ofthe enclosure by way of the top outlet I6.

'I'he primary reason for inclining the walls 25' and 41 is to provide aspace wherein the various heater controls (not shown) may be housed.

What I claim is:

1. In an air heater, the combination of a, relatively tall cabinet, apartition wall dividing the cabinet into upper and lower compartmentsand having an opening adjacent one side of the cabytally extendingsecond .wall thereabove forming between themselves a burner compartmentat one side of said opening, a. blower in the lower compartment `fordelivering forced air to the upper compartment by way of said opening,a-plurality of radiator tubes extending upwardly into the uppercompartment :from said second wall, burners in `said burner compartmentindividual inet, means comprising said wall and a horizontally extendingsecond wall thereabove forming between themselves aburner compartment atone side of said opening, a. blower in the lower compartment Ifordeliveringforced air to the upper compartment by way of said opening, aplurality of radiator tubes extending upwardly into the uppercompartment from said second wall, burners in said burner compartmentndito each-radiator tube, and means for supporting 10 vidual to eachradiator tube, means for supportsaid burners in alinement with andsufficiently close to their respective radiator tubes to iire directlytherento whereby to avoid substantial heating ofsad second wall.

2. In an air heater, the combination of a relatively tall cabinet, apartition wall dividing the cabinet into upper and lower compartmentsand having an opening adjacent one side of the ca bing said burners inalinement with and sufIiciently close to their respective radiator tubesto re directly thereinto whereby to avoid substantial heating of saidsecond wall, and a removable wall comprising a part of the cabinet sidewall for permitting access to the burner compartment.

JOHN R. DENISE.

